State Bank of India, the country’s largest financial institution, which ranks among the top 50 global banks by assets and reach, has launched an integrated omni-channel digital platform to offer financial services, besides lifestyle products and services.
In a media note, the bank said the new offering, YONO, an acronym for You Only Need Once, will enable customers to avail lifestyle-based services under 14 categories, including booking and renting cabs, entertainment, dining experience, travel and stay, and medical assistance. Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley launched the platform.
“This will be an integrated omni-channel digital platform that offers just about everything related to financial services, and lifestyle products and services,†the bank said.
SBI said that the platform was developed leveraging technologies such as artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and machine learning, and can be accessed through both its web portal and a mobile application.
“The portal has been designed to offer maximum customer convenience, where each journey has been designed with minimum possible clicks with easy-to-understand descriptions. We believe this app will help us increase engagement with our customers and enhance their banking,†said SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar.
Customers can use the offering to avail a host of services, including opening a bank account in less than five minutes, transferring funds, availing paperless pre-approved personal loans, getting overdraft facility against fixed deposits, and having access to a single-view window of the banking and financial portfolio of SBI Group companies, besides a smart spend advisor and chat bots for conversational banking.
This apart, the platform will also offer customised products and services to its customers from over 60 e-commerce players, including Amazon, Uber, Ola, Myntra, Jabong, Shoppers Stop, Cox & Kings, Thomas Cook, Yatra, Airbnb, Swiggy and Byjus. Users can also purchase and view investment products such as insurance policies, without having the need to redirect the customer to the respective service provider.
According to the bank statement, as on September 30, SBI had a deposit base of Rs 26.23 lakh crore with CASA (ratio of deposits in current and saving accounts) ratio of 43.81%, and advances of Rs 18.92 lakh crore.
SBI also claimed to have a 31.97% and 34.64% market share in the home loans and auto loans markets, respectively. Besides 22,900 branches across India and an ATM network of 58,916, SBI is also present in 36 countries with 205 offices. It has 2.57 crore mobile banking users and 4.2 crore internet banking customers.
India’s largest bank has also been in the news recently with regard to the adoption of other new-age technologies for its financial and banking services. Earlier this month, The Economic Times reported that it will roll out beta launches of blockchain-enabled processes for smart contracts and KYC (know your customer).
SBI also actively engages with the Indian startup ecosystem. In January 2016, it had opened its first dedicated branch for startups in Bengaluru, SBI InCube. The branch provides a one-stop-shop for financial advisory services.
Startups can get information and advice related to regulatory environment, payments, taxation and tax liabilities under a single roof.
Besides announcing its intent to start an incubation programme for fintech startups last year, SBI had also floated a $30 million fund to provide assistance for fintech startups.
